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Bontrager rolls out its new line of freeride / DH components |
When Cam called a couple of weeks before Christmas and asked me to review Bontrager's new cranks, I was a little sceptical. The company has built its rep on cross country trails and the road - I don’t own an XC bike and certainly didn’t want to squeeze into a tight pair of Spandex. Before deciding whether to take him up on his offer, I did a little surfing on the Net and was totally wowed.
Trek/Bontrager is making a huge push into the Shore scene with the new Sessions bikes, and backing up their play with the Shore-worthy Big Earl components. The new Big Earl freeride / downhill component line from Bontrager looked good, and I settled down to wait for Santa’s sleigh and eight tiny reindeer. When the package finally arrived, I was like a little grom on Christmas day.
The new Bontrager Big Earl crankset, complete with middle and granny rings,
and a bashguard
The Big Earl cranks looked pretty sweet (read: extremely heavy duty). They are ISIS drive, AL-6061 construction arms that have been anodized black and finished with heat-treated steel pedal thread inserts. The crankset comes complete with a 22/32 chromoly chain ring combo and a heavy-duty AL-7075 champagne-coloured bash guard. The quality and finish are amazing, boasting great lines and laser-etched graphics.
Being a techie at heart, I wanted to weigh the Big Earls and compare them to my well-loved and faithful Race Face cranks on my big bike and the Truvativ Hussefelts on the hardtail.
All cranks were 175mm and only the crank arms were weighed. The Big Earls came in at 680 grams, the Hussefelts at 703 grams and the Race Face at 534 grams. Bontrager is advertising the complete Big Earl set - cranks, rings and bash guard - at 950 grams.
L to r - The Big Earls, Truvativs, and a museum-era
set of Race Face LP square tapers
(which are somehow fitting for nsmb's "most experienced" tester)
I requested a suggested manufactures' retail price from Ryan Atkinson over at Bontrager and was shocked enough when he replied to email him back to see if there was a mistake or if he was quoting in U.S. dollars. The Canadian suggested list on these puppies is going to be $114.99. That’s for the complete package, not just the cranks alone.
I really wanted to mount the Big Earls on my big bike, but my shock was still down in California being rebuilt for next season. I decided to mount them on the hardtail and was ready for a test ride within 20 minutes.
Living at the top of Juniper in Kamloops gives me a lot of riding choices right out of my front door. I decided to hit up the Razorback - a fast, flowy, old-school trail that Tippie and the boys hit up on the original Kranked. Unfortunately, my old-school trail turned into a little bit of a frightmare with 6" of fresh snow and semi-bald High Rollers. The spine at the bottom was totally sketchy and I finally realized how steep the banks really were. Slipping and sliding my way down that morning, I didn’t even remember that I was riding new cranks.
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Since then I’ve only put in half a dozen rides on the Big Earls, so I really can’t give a true opinion. I’ll be slapping them on my big bike and thrashing them over the summer at Sun Peaks, which will really put them to the test. I’ve also decided that I should stick to the ski hill for the rest of the winter. At this point, the Big Earls don’t feel noticeably different from any of the cranks I’ve ever ridden. But the price of these puppies is definitely attractive and is a good reason to put these on your list if you're in the market for new cranks. To me, a good set of cranks are about function, durability and longevity. Slap them on and forget about them. You have to have confidence in what you are riding , and my gut reaction is that the Big Earls are going to fit the bill. |
 Drive-side shot of the Big Earls, waiting to play in the Kamloops snow |
And as far as Bontrager's entry into the freeride market goes, I have to agree with Stuart Kernaghan's take on this when he first tested the new Bontrager gear last June:
“Whether or not people want to accept it, Bontrager is committed to designing and building components that stand on their own merit. They've done it for the road and XC markets, and are now trying to do the same thing for the Shore scene. But only time and a lot of hard riding will tell if they succeed, though, because Big Earl is an unknown entity at this point.
"So to answer the question about who gives a damn, you should - if for no other reason than a new player in the FR / DH component market will force other manufacturers to get better at what they're doing in order to stay competitive. And the person who benefits most from that at the end of the day is you, the rider.”
Stuart hit the nail on the head. Time and a lot of hard riding will be the deciding factors if the Big Earl components are Shore-worthy. But I have a feeling they will be.
Look for the complete line of Big Earl freeride / downhill components from Bontrager - cranks, bars, stems, seat posts, wheel sets, hubs and tires - on the shelves of your local bike store. I think you might just be surprised with what you find.
